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NBA2K eSports head believes half of NBA teams will participate

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Oct 16, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; IDK LOC (L) plays during the Tekken 7 top 8 pool play at Esports Arena. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 16, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; IDK LOC (L) plays during the Tekken 7 top 8 pool play at Esports Arena. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports /
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The NBA plans to start its own NBA2K eSports league in 2018. Already the league is expecting more than half of its franchises to field a team.

eSports is the fastest growing sub-industry in sports.

Whether it is League of Legends, Street Fighter, NBA2K, FIFA or anything else, there is a growing interest and a growing participation in watching people play video games. Of course, it is more than that. Easily dismissed as such, these gamers are the best in the world at what they do. And major sports properties are noticing.

The NBA certainly is.

The NBA announced earlier this year that it would invest in a NBA2K eSports league and it expected many of its franchises to field teams. Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks jumped in, so have the Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards.

Initially when the league was announced in February, the NBA anticipated roughly 8-12 teams to join in on this growing industry within the sports world. The recently announced managing director of the NBA2K eSports league, Brendan Donohue, said the expectation is much more.

Donohue, announced as the managing director on Tuesday, told Mark J. Burns of SportsTechie more than half the teams in the league are expected to participate. The Mavericks, Kings, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards have either publicly announced they will field teams or have been reported to be fielding teams.

For the NBA, this seems like a natural outgrow of their company. The NBA2K game is already extremely popular, gaining awards for its realism and its gameplay. There is a natural partnership there.

The NBA will become the first pro sports league to have its own eSports league. But they are following a larger trend throughout the sports world.

Turner Sports has already begun airing eLeague tournaments and games on its network. Throughout the NBA Playoffs, TNT has advertised its Street Fighter V tournament. This includes airing an upcoming celebrity tournament featuring Shaquille O’Neal and Reggie Bush airing this weekend.

ESPN was the first to begin airing eLeague games with the League of Legends Tournament popping up on ESPN2 more and more. They have also done stories of colleges setting up athletic scholarships for top video game players and forming official school teams. The Big Ten Network airs the conference’s League of Legends team.

A lot of the early efforts to air video games faced ridicule. But there is a large market for this. The League of Legends final sells out basketball stadiums.

Perhaps having a more formal sports game associated with a sports league will resonate more with traditional sports fans.

Admittedly, Donohue tells SportsTechie he is getting his bearings with the eSports — his experience is more in marketing for the league. He said he was interested in the product, but still needs to learn a lot.

The NBA is set to begin its NBA2K league in 2018. There are still a lot of logistics to figure out — including the size of the teams and even the final branding for the league.

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But the fact so many NBA teams are interested in competing and joining this growing trend is a good sign for the NBA and its ambitious plan to jump into eSports.